Idle Talk
by Dawn Rune
Summary: MAIKO. “Got bored watching those two knuckleheads go at it?” said Mai, in her normal flat tone. There was just enough amusement, though, that Katara was able to chuckle a little.


**Title:** Idle Talk

**Author:** Risa

**Rating:** K+

**Pairings: **Maiko, background Kataang.

**Warnings:** None

**Summary:** "Got bored watching those two knuckleheads go at it?" said Mai, in her normal flat tone. There was just enough amusement, though, that Katara was able to chuckle a little.

---

Ember Island wasn't such a bad place once Mai got settled in. She could certainly do without the occasional guy making at pass at her, or a frequent girl drooling over Zuko, especially now that he was the Fire Lord. Apparently that meant he exuded "hot godliness," and yes someone totally went there less than fifteen feet away from her. It was all she could do not to flip out her knives and pin those annoying girls right to a tree from where they stood. She could do it quickly enough that no one would even see her move. Still, she couldn't be bothered to let a bunch of chumps get to her, so she resumed her reading under her umbrella while listening to the waves crash again the shore. It was a soothing sound that lulled her to sleep often, but given the high volume of peeping toms in the Fire Nation, she didn't dare fall asleep without Zuko by her side.

After all, who better than the Fire Lord himself to keep her from choking a bitch? Oh well, her book was more interesting anyway. She didn't let it show, but she could get very engaged in a book in her spare time, and often found them more interesting than anything else. Her parents thought books may be a good way to raise a quiet child that caused no trouble, and she supposed that was true. Well, it was true until Azula recruited her for position of loyal henchwoman the second, to which she agreed just for the hell of it. This was back when she thought the royal family actually knew what they were doing.

Zuko probably didn't know it, but one of the things she admired about him was that he never held back, and one of the things he admired about her was that she could keep a secret. He unloaded quite a bit of doubts he had about the Fire Nation onto her, and since she wasn't one to passionately defend anything like that, she just kind of listened until everything he said just started coming together. Then he ran away from her, and left a stupid note behind, which ticked her off big time. What ticked her off most was that she would have gone with him, to help defend his cause. Of course she would do it because she loved him, but also because she loved her country. People in the Fire Nation, too, suffered the constant life of war and disorder.

Now that schools were encouraged to incorporate fun things such as dance, and music into their classes, and the true origin of fire bending, she noticed a significant increase in smiles on the faces of children. Heck, it made her want to smile more often, and she didn't feel that way too much.

Mai put her book aside, now that she found herself lost in thought. That Zuko, he had changed quite a bit since first they started dating, and that suited her just fine. The change was from a whiny brat to a calm and dignified man, so who was she to complain? Every day he grew more regal, more proud, but not so much that he let it consume him as Ozai and Azula had. He was quite a presence to be around, but hell what Mai wouldn't give to have girls shut up about him being the most handsome Fire Lord that ever was. Surely she should have felt a swell of pride in being with him, but Mai wasn't like that. She was her own woman who happened to be in love with Zuko. She decided that she would be her own woman from the day she broke off her agreement with Azula. It was better that those girls just didn't notice her in the background too much.

In any case, Mai spent an awful lot of time thinking about him, so she wondered when he'd be getting back. He was on the other side of the island practicing fire bending with Aang, and, well, really just to hang out with Aang, seeing as Aang has been everywhere in the fire nation doing what he could to internally reconstruct it, while Zuko kept external order from the palace. For two best friends, those guys spoke surprisingly little. It was good for them to get together every now and then.

Speaking of Aang, his girlfriend was starting to walk toward her. Katara was a pretty cool person; Mai's hat was especially off to her for saving Zuko's life and ultimately being the one to defeat Azula. If only she could have been there to see the look on Azula's face, but she supposed the one she made when Ty Lee deceived her would have to do. Speaking of which, Mai would have to make a note to visit Kyoshi Island sometime. The Fire Nation invested a lot of funds in having that place rebuilt. Mai thought it'd be good for someone close to the royal family to have a look at the progress.

"Mind if I sit with you?" said Katara, the moment she reached Mai's blanket. Not one to snub people that didn't suck, Mai scooted over and offered Katara a spot. She was tired of being alone and listening to the offhand conversations of the beach bums. Maybe a little company was what she needed.

"Got bored watching those two knuckleheads go at it?" said Mai, in her normal flat tone. There was just enough amusement, though, that Katara was able to chuckle a little. That sounded like a yes if Mai ever heard one. She loved the more calm side of Zuko, but she didn't exactly care to watch him show off, even though he wasn't really like that. She just wasn't all that impressed by fire bending. Maybe it was because she herself never possessed the ability to fire bend, or maybe it was because she'd just seen it so many times in her meager lifespan that it simply grew old. She suspected the latter, really.

"Zuko has Aang working hard. I didn't want to interrupt," said Katara, bending some of the water from her hair out and playing with it idly. "Speaking of which, I'm not interrupting anything here, am I?"

"This book started getting boring," said Mai with a shrug. From that point they just kind of sat and chatted about nothing, until the sun was leaning heavily toward the western side of the island, and everyone started to disappear, probably because it was dinner time. Just as Katara was mentioning food, Zuko and Aang finally decided to show, and oh how the mighty have fallen. The avatar may have been able to bend all four elements, but after training with Zuko he could barely stand on his own two feet. Why wasn't Mai surprised?

"Go easy on him next time, you jerk," said Katara, slinging Aang's arm around her shoulders as she walked him toward the beach house for some food. She was only being sarcastic, so Zuko didn't take any offense to that. Not that he would. He enjoyed being Aang's fire bending teacher, and a tough one at that.

It was about damn time Mai got him alone. She wasted no time in wrapping her arms around him and diving in for one of his fiery kisses. They were always the best after he spent his day working hard. Even better was the lulling sound of the waves, and the orange of the setting sun in the background. She could certainly get used to trips to Ember Island, tards that told them to get a room and all.

END


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